TEXAS SENATE PASSES BILL REMOVING THE TEACHING REQUIREMENT OF THE KKK

Texas Senate Passes Bill Removing the Teaching Requirement of the Ku

Klux Klan by Hafsah Amjad

The recent passing of the Senate Bill 3 in Texas has raised a major controversy among the nation as the State Senate has declared the removal of the requirement for public school teachers to educate their students about the notorious Ku Klux Klan. The Senate Bill 3 made its way through the Republican - dominated Senate and passed 18 4 on Friday and is to become an official law this coming September. Along with the removal of the Ku Klux Klan, the Texas Senate also decided to remove other significant historical topics such as Martin Luther King Jr. 's "I Have a Dream" speech, Susan B. Anthony's writings about the women's suffragist movement, and Native American history. This bill was seen as a recent follow up of House Bill 3979. The House Bill states that major civic documents revolving around major groups of people and their accomplishments should be taught amongst all public schools. It also clearly mentions that the “history of white supremacy” must be taught to students while highly emphasizing the numerous ways in which the white supremacists were morally wrong. With all of these points present in the House Bill, the Senate decided to remove them.

Bryan Hughes, a Republican State Senate, made a statement to Bloomberg Law explaining his belief of how a specific reading list of documents such as these don’t belong in law. He claimed that this would allow for teachers to not feel forced to discuss these “widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs. ”

This newly created bill made by the Texas Senate now needs to be considered by the House. It’s currently being put on hold as a large group of House Members made their way to D.C. in order to protest a new voting bill that they deemed restrictive. With no news of when they plan to return, the people can only wait and see what is to come. Meanwhile, other states are currently debating or signing bills that are related to the limitations of certain teaching topics that they believe are connected to “critical race theory, ”the academic study of racism’s pervasive impact. Among these government officials, the governor of Tennessee signed a bill banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools. Along with him, the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, mailed a letter to the state education board members emphasizing the need to “take immediate steps to ensure that Critical Race Theory and its dangerous ideology do not take root in our state standards or curriculum. ”

On the other hand, The National Education Association and the National Council for the Social Studies along with thousands of citizens among the nation oppose these legislations that are clearly limiting what topics can be brought to attention within the walls of a classroom. Lawrence Paska, an executive director of the Council, made a statement saying that limitations created by the legislation “creates a very chilling atmosphere of distrust, educators not being able to be the professionals they are not only hired to be but are trained to be. ”

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